


fallen stem

by balancingdiet



Series: give time the power to heal you and i [5]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Gen, Part of Tabula Rasa in Kaito’s POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21974212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/balancingdiet/pseuds/balancingdiet
Summary: “Forgive him this time, okay?” Kaito said as he straightened the pot and arranged the plant’s weak stem to its place. “He’s not a plant-idiot. He’s really quite busy lately.”
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Series: give time the power to heal you and i [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1577851
Comments: 2
Kudos: 211





	fallen stem

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! Just a heads up, you will have to read and complete the main part of this series “Tabula Rasa” to understand this chapter. In addition, there will also be spoilers for that fic. If you’ve finished reading TR... then I hope you’ll enjoy this :)

Pulling the last piece of rubbish out of his suit’s pockets, Kaito slumped onto the floor, butt first and legs sprawled out. He was exhausted and tired and... Did he mention exhausted?

Yes. Exhausted.

He tossed his suit aside and stared at the filled trash-bag between his legs, which contained mostly the leftover props he’d used during the heist earlier—Empty plastic balls, bent pins, torn poker-cards and some packaging of all the other things; things that were not enough to use as evidence to proof him as Kaitou Kid.

Even if he knew Shinichi wasn’t going to do anything about his other identity, that didn’t mean Kaito wouldn’t stay vigilant.

After all that clearing up, all Kaito had to do now was to tie a knot over the bag and then throw it outside in the bin, but he was just so, SO lazy to move right now.

Damn, maybe he shouldn’t have sat down.

Now he wanted more; to lie down instead.

With the trash-bag clasped between his thighs, Kaito laid his back on the floor and stared at the ceiling. He could see his doves shifting in their spots, all recognising his posture as an “invitation” to disturb him, like littering their feathers over his body or pecking his forehead (the latter was just Yoshi only). So Kaito kept his eyes open, as a warning to the doves to not come disrupt his temporary peace, and continued staring at the ceiling.

Besides, he wasn’t craving for sleep; he wasn’t experiencing _that_ kind of exhaustion. His exhaustion was a little bit more to do with his inner than physical state, but it wasn’t as if using its actual term (i.e. disappointment) would make things turn out all better.

It could never be, until he found Pandora.

But there was some hope recently; some hope that came from hell. Literally.

Just last month, Akako contacted Kaito, telling him of a prophecy she received from Lucifer (and Kaito wished he could pretend it was just a name of a dog Akako gave, but who was he kidding?):

 _“The moon is going to shine red soon,”_ Akako said. The hood over her head casted a shadow over her face, but he could still see the gleam in her eyes, which warned Kaito to not question her words _or_ source. At all.

“Ok,” Kaito answered instead, before wearily looking at the clock hanging on his bedroom wall. It was three in the morning, but he figured that concern was never a problem to Akako, given how she claimed she didn’t need the so-called beauty sleep that most women said they needed. “So the moon will shine... red? And? Do you need to video-call me for this?” Kaito muttered.

_“Do you know what it means?”_

Kaito briefly hid his face under the blanket, hoping it muffled his groans before he re-surfaced and squinted at his phone screen. His brain was not really working, but at least he could find some boldness in him to retort, “What? Am I suppose to send an email to NASA or something?”

 _”Imbecile.”_ Akako removed the hood from her head and glowered. _“It’s about Pandora.”_

That got him shot out of bed, and the plan for his next heist began its way.

Caffeine rarely worked for him, but he decided to down two cups of coffee rather than switching on the loud music to keep him awake. He knew how he’d often disturbed Shinichi, and he used to never care about that. But given that Shinichi wasn’t having the time of his life lately either, Kaito spared him that pain and decided to be a good neighbour instead.

So for the next month after that video call, Kaito had held heists for all the jewels he knew existed in Japan at the moment, be it ones that used to never pass the need of his attention. He wasn’t going to take the risk of losing any signs.

But he’d been feeling nothing short of that exhaustion since then.

(Maybe it was better to have no hope at all.)

Sighing, Kaito brushed away his thoughts and forced himself to sit and stand up, careful to not topple the trash-bag. But just as he was about to tie a dead knot, a huge gust of wind rattled against his opened kitchen window, and Kaito glanced up. His ears twitched, hearing more than just the nature’s howl—there was a sound of a soft thud outside; something that begged his gut to not ignore.

Tentatively leaving his trash-bag on the floor, Kaito approached his kitchen window. From here, he could catch a small glimpse of Shinichi’s backyard, but it was dark, and he couldn’t see much of anything besides shadows.

After closing his kitchen window, Kaito stepped out to his backyard. He ambled over to Shinichi’s side, until he stopped at the fence that separated their territories.

“Hah.” Kaito shook his head, staring at a toppled pot, the vines and soil sprawled all across the grass patch. The sweet potato vine had started to overgrow again, and one side probably got too heavy. Adding from the strength of the wind, it finally toppled over.

“Plant-idiot—” Kaito stopped. He then slipped back to his own house, took a spade and pruner tool, before jumping over the fence to Shinichi’s backyard.

From the even darker darkness coming from Shinichi’s home, Kaito knew he was still at work. But Kaito also knew Shinichi’s recent increase in overtime wasn’t related to his pure interest of solving complex murders. It was more of _real work_ —the lengthy phone calls, loads of interrogating and thousands and thousands of words Shinichi had to write in his report—given that one division recently closed down due to corruption, and Shinichi and his team had taken over their duties instead.

Shinichi never told Kaito, but given his intel, it wasn’t hard for him to know about it.

Besides that, seeing Shinichi’s eye-bags, crooked smile, and his slightly less concern of getting his shitted mailbox cleaned immediately were more than enough of a clue for Kaito too.

Kaito squatted before the toppled pot.

( _“Forgive him this time, okay?”_ Kaito overheard one day as he peeked out from behind the corner of the hospital’s corridor, to see Aoko patting her hands over Kanna and another boy’s head—the latter probably recently admitted and thus Kaito never saw him before. _“Kaito nii-san’s been busy recently, but maybe he’ll come next time,”_ Aoko continued, with a smile that held something wistful, and nothing promising, too.

But even after Kaito popped out from behind the wall and surprised the kids, including Aoko, saying that he had cleared something off his schedule and managed to make it for the volunteering session today, that smile of hers still remained.

Kaito should have seen it as a sign, but he didn’t, and he still couldn’t quite forgive himself for that.)

“Forgive him this time, okay?” Kaito said as he straightened the pot and arranged the plant’s weak stem to its place. “He’s not a plant-idiot. He’s really quite busy lately.”

Flutters of wing came from his side and Kaito turned, watching as Tamago settled on the fence; its beady eyes observing.

“Why are you always around when Shinichi’s stuff are involved?” Kaito scoffed as he continued his plant work and patted the soil into the pot.

Another flutter of wings, and Wasabi perched next to Tamago.

“Not you too,” Kaito mumbled.

Kaito decided to focus on his work, but there wasn’t much to be done beside cutting a few overgrown stems to have a better balance of its weight. Afterwards, he collected the _evidence_ that proved he’d meddled with Shinichi’s plants, jumped over to his backyard and disposed them into his trash-bag. Finally, he tied a dead knot and headed to his front door.

His ears itched, and he dug it—care-free—as he stumbled out of his house and threw the trash-bag away

Then, he spotted Shinichi’s car, and the said man stepping out of it too.

 _Strange_ , Kaito wondered, but he didn’t have his phone on him, so he approached Shinichi, who limply allowed him to pick his wrist and check the time on his watch.

“You’re back earlier than usual,” Kaito commented. He actually expected a few hours more before Shinichi returned.

“And you too.” Shinichi waved a hand over Kaito, like he couldn’t care less, yet Kaito could still catch a hint of concern in his tone. “I thought you have a heist today?”

Kaito knew Shinichi was busy, but it annoyed him slightly that he’d grown so oblivious about his activities. “I’m already done.”

“Ok.” Shinichi put out a hand. “Where’s the jewel?”

“Why?”

“I figured if I’m not going to turn you in, I should at least do my part for the police and get the jewel back.”

“So righteous…” Kaito clapped his hands drily. “If I’m still in Kid’s attire, I’d definitely take my hat off to you.”

“Don’t change the subject. Jewel?”

Rather than _him_ changing the subject, Kaito felt it was _Shinichi_ that was trying to particularly focus the subject on his heist, the jewel — just everything besides the fact that he had knocked off early tonight.

Pot calling the kettle black?

“Aren’t you afraid that you’ll get suspected if you return my loot again?” Kaito challenged, raising his eyebrow further. “I mean, I’ve disguised as you before so it’s kinda on the track record.”

That seemed to put some perspective for Shinichi, and he put down his arm and narrowed his eyes—the kind of annoyance that Kaito recognized better. “Thanks for bringing up those memories.”

“My pleasure,” Kaito said cheekily before looking up at the dark sky. “They were good times indeed…”

Those words slipped out of his tongue even before Kaito realized, but he didn't find them wrong, nor having the need to correct it aloud or to himself.

_Good times._

They were indeed times that started well. Times of the better past. Times that could be called memories rather than nightmares and scars…

Even when it was present earlier, the moon was nowhere to be found; now it was just a piece of dark sky hanging above. But Kaito knew it got to be out there somewhere, probably hidden behind the clouds, like a taunt for Kaito.

_”I’m here. But try to find me if you can.”_

_Please._ Kaito thought. _Please just shine red soon._


End file.
